Best "Get Out!" Event of the Year: Library of Congress' National Book Festival on Aug 24, 2024

 by Peggy Robin

This is the easiest "Get Out!" event of the week to do, seeing as everything I wrote last year goes for this year, too. So here's a re-run of last year's column, with some updated links:

Why do I love living in Washington, DC? I could come up with a top-100 list and one of the things that would definitely be in the top ten is the National Book Festival. It's put on every year for FREE by the Library of Congress -- and this year it's on August 24, running all day.

Free Poster

You can spend some time scouting out the authors and book talks and panel discussions and kids' events to be sure you hit the events that hold the most appeal for you, or you can just wander around and let serendipity lead you to authors and books you might never have discovered had you not gone.

If you're the plan-it-all-out type, start here:

https://www.loc.gov/events/2022-national-book-festival/schedule/

Find events by author:

https://www.loc.gov/events/2024-national-book-festival/authors/

Here's a handy "Festival at a Glance" one-page .PDF:

Festival schedule-at-a-glance (PDF 498KB) - Download a printer-friendly, 8.5 x 11” version of the Festival schedule.

If you're a wanderer and a serendipity-believer, then just show up the the Library of Congress National Book Festival at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center on Saturday, August 24, any time between 9am and 8 pm.

You can't go wrong, either way!

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The "Get Out!" event of the week is published on the Cleveland Park Listserv and on All Life Is Local on Thursdays.